Labral Tear of The Hip & Shoulder
What is Achilles Tendonitis?
Hip
The hip is like a ball-and-socket. The socket is the acetabulum, and the ball is the femoral head, located at the top of the femur (leg bone). A labral tear of the hip is an injury to the labrum, the soft tissue that covers the acetabulum. The labrum helps the femoral head move smoothly within the socket, which allows your hip to move without pain. It also serves as a seal, keeping the ball and socket together without touching.
Shoulder
The labrum is a piece of fibrocartilage (rubbery tissue) attached to the rim of the shoulder socket that helps keep the ball of the joint in place. It is because of this “rubbery tissue” or cartilage, that the ball and joint, while connected, do not touch, and cause us pain. When this cartilage is torn, it is called a labral tear.
What Are The Symptoms?
The symptoms of a hip labral tear include:
- Hip pain or stiffness
- Pain in the groin or buttocks area
- A clicking or locking sound in the hip area when you move
- Feeling unsteady on your feet
What does a hip labral tear feel like?
If you have a hip labral tear, hip pain or discomfort may get worse when you bend, move or rotate the hip, exercise, or play sports. It’s also possible to have a hip labral tear with no symptoms at all.
What does a Should labral tear feel like?
A Shoulder labral tear is usually painful. It may feel like your shoulder joint is:
- catching
- locking
- popping
- grinding
You may also feel a sense of instability in your shoulder, a decreased range of motion, and a loss of strength. Pain at night or while doing daily activities is also common.
Hip Labral Tear Causes:
- Structural ailments: Conditions that cause abnormal hip movement can also lead to hip labral tears. In femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), the femoral head doesn’t fit into the socket properly. This imperfect fit can cause long-lasting groin pain and movement limitations. This is the most common cause of labral tears. FAI can affect people at any age. Without treatment, it can result in osteoarthritis in some patients.
- Injury: Trauma to the hip can lead to a hip labral tear. This can happen to people who play certain sports that have repetitive and high-impact movements, such as ice hockey, football, soccer and golf.
- Degenerative health conditions: Osteoarthritis is a chronic (long-term) wearing down of the cartilage between the joints. As cartilage slowly erodes over time, it becomes more prone to tearing. Older age and excessive weight can increase a person’s risk for developing osteoarthritis. People with osteoarthritis commonly have pain and stiffness in more than one joint.
What Are The Causes?
Should Labral Tear Causes:
- a fall on an outstretched arm
- a direct hit to the shoulder
- a violent blow while reaching overhead
- a sudden tug on the arm
- wear and tear
- repetitive motion
Hip Labral Tear Treatments:
A hip labral tear won’t heal on its own, but rest and other measures can help manage symptoms of a minor tear. Nonsurgical treatments include:
- Anti-inflammatory medications: Over-the-counter pain relievers can reduce inflammation.
- Medication injection: Doctors can inject medications, such as steroids, into the hip joint to ease symptoms.
- Physical therapy: Specific physical therapy exercises to stretch and strengthen the hip muscles may help relieve pain. Physical therapy usually requires a prescription from your doctor.
If symptoms persist or if the tear is severe, your doctor may recommend surgery. Surgery to repair a hip labral tear is usually done arthroscopically. This is a minimally invasive surgery in which the doctor makes small incisions (cuts) in the hip and uses miniature instruments to make the following repairs:
- Refixation or repair (stitching the torn tissue back together)
- Reconstruction (reconfiguring damaged tissue using healthy tissue from elsewhere on your body or from a donor)
- Debridement (removing a small piece of labral tissue)
If FAI is also present, it will be addressed (removed) at the same time to help prevent the labrum from tearing again. The arthroscopic surgery is often done on an outpatient basis, meaning the patient goes home the same day.
What Are The Treatments?
Shoulder Labral Treatments:
- Rest and over-the-counter medications such as anti-inflammatories.
- Your doctor may also decide to give you cortisone injections for pain relief.
- Your doctor may recommend physical therapy to strengthen the muscles of your shoulder, especially the rotator cuff. You may also receive massages or manual therapy during visits.Your physical therapist will show you what positions and activities to avoid, as well as gentle stretches and exercises you can do at home.
Shoulder Labrum tears requiring surgery are usually treated with minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery. During surgery, the surgeon removes the damaged part of the labrum. This can include cutting off any flaps of damaged cartilage that prevent proper motion of the joint.